Eden Prairie's Blake Schmit in a Firecracker game against Missoula, Mont. Schmit went 3-for-4 with a home run in the American Legion World Series Championship game. (Photo Kevin Cox/IDS)

(SHELBY, N.C.) For the second year in a row, Eden Prairie advanced to the American Legion World Series.  For the first time, however, they came out on top defeating Tupelo, Miss. 5-4 in thirteen innings on Tuesday night to become the American Legion National Champions.

The win was the second of the day for the Minnesota team as they overcame an opening game loss to fight through the loser’s bracket for the title.

Eden Prairie fell behind early in the championship game, allowing four runs, only one earned, in the first inning to Tupelo.

Just like they had all tournament long, Eden Prairie fought back from the early deficit and tied the game up in the top half of the eighth inning on an RBI double from first baseman Tyler Peterson.

Neither team was able to score again until the thirteenth, as Eden Prairie took the lead courtesy of a costly Mississippi error.  Peterson walked to lead off the inning, and advanced to third on an error from the Mississippi second baseman.  Outfielder Jordan Smith drove in Peterson with a fielder’s choice to the shortstop for what should have been the third out of the inning.

Mississippi threatened in the bottom half of the inning getting back-to-back singles with only out.  On a 1-0 count, Eden Prairie pitcher Lance Thonvold made a back-pick to first and caught the Tupelo runner off the base for a huge second out of the inning.

Thonvold forced a groundout to third to end the game and start the celebration for the national champions.

Shorstop Blake Schmit finished the championship game going 3-for-4 with a solo home run in the fifth inning.

The title was the fifth in the history of Minnesota Legion Baseball, and first since Rochester won the title in 2003.  Eden Prairie finished the season with a record of 43-8, and was also the Post 22 Firecracker Tournament Champions.

Eden Prairie, MN vs Tupelo, MS (Aug 16, 2011)


Box Score

2011 American Legion World Series
Eden Prairie, MN 5 (43-8), Tupelo, MS 4 (32-11)
Aug 16, 2011 at Shelby, NC (Game 15)

Eden Prairie, MN ab r h rbi bb so po a lob
David Belusky cf 6 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 2
Blake Schmit ss 4 1 3 1 0 1 3 5 0
Tony Skjefte 2b 6 1 1 0 0 1 4 5 1
Tyler Peterson 1b 5 1 1 1 1 3 12 2 1
Lance Thonvold rf/p 4 1 0 0 2 1 3 1 2
Adam Bray dh 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1
Jordan Smith lf/rf 4 1 0 1 2 0 5 0 1
Danny Blasy c 6 0 0 0 0 1 9 0 1
Ryan Maenke 3b 5 0 1 2 0 4 0 3 0
Tyler Ruemmele p/lf 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
Totals 46 5 6 5 5 15 39 16 9
Tupelo, MS ab r h rbi bb so po a lob
Channing Nanney ss 6 1 3 0 0 1 1 6 2
William Goss cf 5 1 0 0 0 1 4 0 1
Will Cox p/3b 5 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0
Brandon Woodruff 3b/lf 6 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 1
Ben Hudspeth c/p 5 1 1 0 1 1 12 1 2
Drew Wheeler rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Drew Alford rf/p 5 1 3 0 0 0 2 0 0
Cody Shrewsbury 1b 5 0 2 0 0 1 14 0 0
Connor Carothers lf 3 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 0
Tyler Moore ph/c 3 0 1 0 0 2 5 0 1
Kirk Roberts 2b 6 0 0 0 0 2 1 4 4
Totals 49 4 12 3 2 9 39 14 11 
Score by Innings                          R  H  E
-------------------------------------------------
Eden Prairie, MN.... 020 010 010 000 1 -  5  6  3
Tupelo, MS.......... 400 000 000 000 0 -  4 12  1
-------------------------------------------------
E – Skjefte,T(2); Peterson,T(2); Maenke,R(2); Roberts, K(2). DP – MN 1. LOB – MN 9; MS 11. 2B – Schmit,B(4); Skjefte,T(8); Peterson,T(5); Maenke,R(2); Nanney, C(6); Carothers, C(3). HR – Schmit,B(2). HBP – Schmit,B 2. SH – Goss, W(1); Alford, D(2); Shrewsbury,C(3). SB – Nanney, C(3).
Eden Prairie, MN ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np
Tyler Ruemmele 7.0 7 4 1 1 5 0 0 0 0 31 32 7 9 101
Lance Thonvold W 6.0 5 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 1 18 22 5 7 72
Tupelo, MS ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np
Will Cox 8.0 6 4 4 3 10 0 0 0 0 30 33 3 11 113
Ben Hudspeth L 4.0 0 1 0 2 4 0 0 2 0 12 16 6 2 61
Drew Alford 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 4 1 1 14
Win – Thonvold,L. Loss – Hudspeth, B. Save – None. HBP – by Hudspeth, B (Schmit,B); by Hudspeth, B (Schmit,B). PB – Moore, T(5). Inherited runners/scored: Thonvold,L 1/0; Alford, D 1/1. Pitches/strikes: Ruemmele,T 101/66; Thonvold,L 72/51; Cox, W 113/74; Hudspeth, B 61/34; Alford, D 14/10.Umpires – HP: Jeff Mertzel 1B: Randy Sutton 2B: Don Warner 3B: John Black
Start: 8:00 pm Time: 3:31 Attendance: 5896 

Ruemmele,T faced 1 batter in the 8th.